PLANNING FOR UNIVERSITY

Length of event: 75 minutes

Format: a panel of speakers, to be led by three Grade 12 students

Preparation:
1. three students will be selected to gather information on speakers and to welcome
them. These students will also lead the discussion, and will field questions from the
audience
2. several students (8-10) will be given the task of collecting questions from Grade 11
and 12 students prior to the event. They will then organise these questions into
themes (potentially: 1. University vs. college, 2. What programmes to choose, 3. School
life and living on campus, 4. Academics and expectations, 5. Post-university (jobs, grad
school, planning for the future)). These questions will then be passed on to the three
students chosen to lead discussion.
3. Three additional students will be placed in charge of monitoring time and thanking
speakers at the end of the session.

Confirmed Speakers:
Dr. Kevin James, professor in the History Department at Guelph University
Sarah Star, 4th year PhD student in English at the University of Toronto
Lara Howerton, MA student in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto
Caitlin Henderson, PhD student in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto
Megan Boyle, 2nd year student in Business Studies at Guelph-Humber

Goal:
While the students at Loretto seem to have plenty of excellent guidance on the application
process, they also have a wealth of questions about how to choose universities, which
programmes might suit them, what university will be like, what types of expectations
university professors have of their work, and where their university degrees or college
diplomas might lead them in the future. The goal of this session is to alleviate some of the
anxiety currently plaguing the Grade 12 students, and to provide an information forum for
Grade 11 students who will be faced with many of these choices and questions next year. It
is my hope that this session will allow students to ask questions and to get informative
answers from people with current experience in the university/college system. This will
allow them to make informed choices about the future, and will make their application
process infinitely more smooth and less anxiety-inducing. If the session proves a success, it
might be a useful addition to the annual calendar of the school, and could, perhaps be
expanded to include recent graduates of Loretto, who, Im sure, would be very happy to
come back to the school to share some of their knowledge and experience of university or
college life.